fill it with color and ducks. (Reply)

I guess if you have to have your sleep constantly interrupted, it's best that it be constantly interrupted by kittens. If only I could nap like they do, I would be golden; but I'm a terrible napper, napping makes me grouchy and horrid.

Went to see Les Mis, which I am incapable of critiquing in any honest or objective manner; I don't actually like the story much and never have, and I cried the first time someone died and didn't stop until the end. I was recovering a bit by Javert's suicide, but oh my god the sound he made when he hit that thing in the water, I couldn't stand it. At least I saw it with all my friends in one go, so I won't have to go to it again. Small blessings.

I think I'm caught up on TV - at least, the TV I don't have to download. (Download TV, I am always behind on, because I already rack up overage charges as it is. Damn you, Verizon.) OUaT is still making me happy, mostly. The dialogue is still not good, but as with A:tLA, once an episode is over, the gist that remains of it in my head is pleasant. I love all the ladies, I love Mulan and Belle meeting each other and Belle finding the invisiship. I'll admit I'm annoyed by no one caring about Pongo's barking in PongoVision - COME ON, this is Disneyville, DOGS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT. But of course it's always frustrating to have an entire episode center around characters believing something that the viewers already know isn't true. And women are still everywhere, talking to each other and yelling at each other and caring about each other, so. This show still has my attention.

And! Finished a couple of books, at long last.

I don't even really know where to start, except to say thank you a zillion times to ambyr for reccing it to me. It took me ages to start and even longer to finish for a whole bunch of reasons, but I'm finally done and I LOVED IT. It's one of those books that, for me, was most rewarding in the last quarter; it feels a little slow to start, there's a lot of setup and a lot of pieces that don't seem like they mean much but all of it starts fitting together and building toward one big glorious messy picture at the end. By the time I was done with it, I felt like every single word that had been in it had been necessary.

I'll admit that there were certain word choices or stylistic decisions that didn't always work for me, but the content made me not care very much about that overall. Looking at the cover, I was half-expecting Diora to end up drawing the sword, being of the appropriate clan by marriage; but what actually happened was so utterly perfect and gives the cover such a rich context that I just. I can't. I love Diora and Teresa SO MUCH. I mean, I love all the women, and let me tell you, there are a TON of them and they are all great; but we spend a lot of time with Diora and Teresa and every second of that time is PERFECTLY SPENT. And there are so many things going on in the Empire and the Dominion both, and the Shining Court, I just - how am I going to hold it all in my head until I finish the second book??? I think I need to read it again and take notes.

And, suiting a completely different and yet partly the same portion of my tastes, The Stepsister Scheme. I've wanted to read something of Jim Hines's ever since he made it onto the top ten of my List of Straight White Men I Don't Want to Punch, and idriya got me three of the Princess books for this most recent Christmas.

Totally on the other end of the spectrum in terms of writing style; I felt almost thwarted sometimes by the brevity of the sentences and descriptions. (The moment when Danielle realizes her stepsister is possessed is one of the major ones - the stepsister speaks twice, with a paragraph break, and after the second, the Danielle POV notes that there was something different about her intonation that makes Danielle certain it's not her stepsister speaking. AND THAT'S IT.) And the worldbuilding! Danielle de Glas, Beatrice, Armand - Whiteshore? IS THIS KINGDOM FRANCE-BASED OR ISN'T IT.

But! Loved loved loved the story. Loved Cinderella's magical glass sword, loved Sleeping Beauty's use of the fairy gift of grace, loved Snow White's dwarves. I loved the things that are the same and different about their fairytale backstories and I loved some of the details of Fairytown - the two suns and two moons, in particular. And, just, getting to roll around in the three of them working together, making friends with each other and saving each other, Snow and her mirrors and Talia kissing her awake, Danielle and the rats. As I so often have to say, I couldn't list its objective merits, but I really enjoyed it, and I'm glad I have two more to read.

Because I can, I signed up for a trope_bingo card! Here's hoping I can use it to finish some stuff I've already started. (Thank god I got a "forced to marry" square, I finally have a reason to finish the Yue/Zuko arranged marriage fic.)